When Life Gives You Unmatched Socks… Make Sock Monkeys!

Seriously – the pile on top of my dryer keeps getting bigger, and so does my annoyance.

“How hard it is it for ‘someone’ to put TWO socks in the clothes basket?!” “You have two feet! You take both socks off at the same time!”

I’ve yelled these blanket accusations across the house, thinking the shame in my voice will carry across the ceiling and fall like burning cinders into the offenders’ souls. It never works.

I know there are bigger problems in the world. But in my world, this is just another pile of extra work to do.
And it gets to me. Along with the toilets that NO ONE cleans, the trash that NO ONE empties, the beds that NO ONE makes, the floors that NO ONE sweeps, the bedrooms that are close to becoming hazardous waste zones…

This past Sunday, the kids begged me to take them toP.E.A.S., our neighborhood art studio. But when I got home from the station, all I could see was how much housework needed to be done. I was on the verge of another one of my epic rants to NO ONE. Then I remembered our morning news. We had parent coach Meghan Leahy on to talk about holidays, family, stress & instilling gratefulness in our children. She reminded me to shed the small stuff & embrace the shared experiences.

Minutes later, the three of us were at the art studio — elbow deep in piles of socks. Fuzzy ones, spotted ones, really looong argyles and fancy pink tipped woolies. Ugly Christmas socks with bells, somber grey pinstripers, and those kooky toe socks us 70’s kids thought were so neat. Many of them were those damned singlets I loathed so much. But on Sock Monkey Sunday, they were treasures!

Both levels of the art studio were filled with families crafting together. We cut and sewed and stuffed and glued — foraged for fun buttons and generally forgot about the “TO DO” list for a while. It was wonderful. The children were all so proud of their creations, and I was proud of myself for saying yes.